Coins for Christmas. Essence Atkins (Marlon) and Stephen Bishop (Being Mary Jane) star in a holiday movie in which Atkins plays a single mother who’s fallen on hard times and goes to work for a former professional football player (Bishop). 7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 16, TV One.

The Year in Memoriam 2018. Robin Roberts hosts a celebration of some of the famous people who died this year, featuring stories told by those who knew them. Philadelphia’s Patti LaBelle will be among those paying tribute to Aretha Franklin. 10 p.m. Monday, Dec. 17, ABC.

Independent Lens: Man on Fire. Film tells the story of Charles Moore, a 79-year-old white Methodist minister who set himself on fire in 2014 in his hometown of Grand Saline, Texas, to protest racism. Why would anyone do something like that? “He felt it was his mission to erase inequality wherever he saw it,” one of his former congregants says in this film of Moore’s passion for social justice on many fronts. “And apparently he felt it was his mission to erase all of it.” Filmmaker Joel Fendelman goes back to Grand Saline, long known to African Americans in the area as a place they weren’t welcome, to see what, if anything, has changed since Moore’s death shined a harsh light on the town. 10 p.m. Monday, Dec. 17, WHYY12.

Vanity Fair. The appearance of Michael Palin as author William Makepeace Thackeray, introducing the latest adaptation of his most famous work to the accompaniment of “All Along the Watchtower,” should be your first indication that this isn’t just another costume drama. Olivia Cooke (Bates Motel) stars as that irresistible orphaned schemer, Becky Sharp, striving for what Thackeray insists is not worth having in a spirited, if sometimes anachronistic, adaptation by Gwyneth Hughes (Miss Austen Regrets). Seven-part mini-series is a joint production of Amazon and Britain’s ITV. Friday, Dec. 21, Amazon.